Armstrong+Summary+Kuebler

Hi everyone!

Mrs. Hill also asked me to post my summary as an example. I know it's a little late but I just figured out where the comments were for our assignments. Well here it is hope it helps.

-Anna Kuebler Sunday, January 28, 2007

Chapter 1 Summary

Armstrong revealed a lot of information in the first chapter of her book, __A Short History of Myths__. Armstrong shares that myths go all the way back to Neanderthals. The graves of Neanderthals were found with many objects that suggested a belief in some kind of after life. Armstrong also states that humans are unique because unlike animals we have the ability to imagine things and make up stories. Religion and mythology are produced by the human imagination according to Armstrong. Today the imagination is seen as irrational and often dismissed. However, because of the imagination scientists have brought new knowledge to light and invented new technology. Armstrong says that the Neanderthal graves tell us five important things about myths: it is almost always rooted in the experience of death and fear of extinction, myths are usually inseparable from ritual, the most powerful myths are about the end of human life, myths show how we should behave, and all mythology speaks of another plane that exists alongside our own.

Mythology was more about the human experience rather then theology. People thought that everything including gods were subject to the same laws and composed of the same divine substance. Mythology was designed to help people cope with the problems of human life. People invented myths to explain where humans came from. Likewise myths were created to explain what happened after human life ended. According to Armstrong, mythology should give us great pleasure even in the face of death and the despair we may feel at the prospect of annihilation. Armstrong says if a myths stops giving us that pleasure, it dies because it will outlive its usefulness. On page ten, Armstrong sums it all up: “A myth, therefore, is true because it is effective, not because it gives us factual information. If it works, that is, if it forces us to change our minds and hearts, gives us new hope, and compels us to live more fully, it is a valid myth.”